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The CMS and the HHS Office of Inspector General have released two proposed rules meant to provide a three-year extension of the safe harbor program for EHR system donations, pushing the end date to Dec. 31, 2016. The proposed rules would also eliminate an e-prescribing requirement and revise language regarding qualifying EHRs.

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The American Hospital Association has sent an open letter to the HHS Office of Inspector General suggesting that the EHR safe harbors or donation protections be made permanent. "Hospitals already are -- and plan to continue -- using the protections to support physician adoption and use of interoperable electronic health records and other forms of health IT to provide community benefit," according to the association.

The CMS has released an Audit Overview Fact Sheet, which provides data on the Medicare EHR meaningful use audit programs. The agency, through its contractor Figliozzi and Co., started post-payment reviews of providers that obtained MU payments last year and has launched prepayment audits this year. Meanwhile, states are performing their own MU audits for Medicaid.

New guidance released by the CMS details updates to the stage 1 meaningful use requirements for EHRs. These updates, which are now in effect for calendar year and fiscal year 2013, include measures related to computerized physician order entry systems, e-prescribing and electronic clinical data exchange.

Several health care groups beat the May 14 deadline to comment on the proposed rules for the second stage of meaningful use. The Federation of American Hospitals, which sent letters to the CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator, asked the ONC to ensure the EHRs it evaluates and certifies for its initiatives are able to create the quality reports needed to satisfy HHS's MU requirements. The American Medical Association and the Medical Group Management Association urged the CMS to match the rewards and noncompliance penalties for meaningful use with those for the CMS e-prescribing and physician quality reporting programs.

The CMS has submitted for review by the Office of Management and Budget a final rule outlining revisions to the Medicare e-prescribing incentive program, with the goal of aligning the program with federal standards of meaningful use for EHRs. Under a proposed rule issued in June, MU-certified EHRs would be deemed eligible for e-Rx incentives, among other provisions.